Obiena: I came up short, I'm sorry

MANILA, Philippines — Inconsolable after missing the Paris Olympics podium where he is expected to make, the Philippines' Ernest John 'EJ' Obiena apologized for falling short as he placed fourth at the men's pole vault final at the Stade de France early Tuesday, August 6 (Manila time).Obiena, who still made a vast improvement from his 11th place finish in Tokyo to fourth now in Paris, could only clear 5.90m as he fouled out at 5.95m after failing to surpass it in three attempts."It's painful. I missed a medal by one jump and it wasn't far on all my attempts at [5.95m]," Obiena said in an interview with ONE Sports as he broke down to tears."I apologize. I promised I'm gonna go back after Tokyo and do better. I did but it didn't change in my book. I still came up short. I'm really sorry. I apologize for it," added Obiena, who could not end the Philippine 88-year medal drought in Olympic athletics.The last Filipino to medal at the Games was Miguel White who finished with a bronze in the men's 400 meter hurdles at the 1936 Berlin Games to replicate Simeon Toribio's third place finish at the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics men's high jump.Bronze medalist Emmanouil Karalis of Greece just managed to clear 5.90m also but he defeated Obiena by one fewer attempt (countback rule), as he aced 5.50, 5.70, 5.80, 5.85, and 5.90m in just one try each.On the other hand, world no. 2 Obiena who is six notches higher than Karalis' ranking, also surpassed each height in one go except for the 5.80 mark which he failed to clear in one attempt.Obiena, who revealed before the Olympics that he's undergoing physical struggles and even attended medical procedures to try to get healthy, skipped the height after his first try to proceed to 5.85m and ace it right away."There's a lot of things that happened this year. I'm thankful I got to the final, definitely but at the same time, I'm disappointed because it wasn't far. It's like literally the same height and I missed it by one attempt. One attempt to an Olympic medal."Compared to last year, Obiena, who owns the Asian record clearance of 6.0m, has been inconsistent this season.Obiena kickstarted his outdoor campaign with a gold medal at the LA Grand Prix then dropped to seventh at the Ostrava Golden Spike.The pride of Tondo returned to the podium with a silver at the Oslo Bislett Games but dropped to seventh again at the Diamond League Stockholm leg early June.Obiena recovered in Poland with back-to-back gold medal performances which saw him register his season-best 5.97m clearance at the Irena Szewinska Memorial and surpass 5.87m at the Memorial Czeslawa Cybulskiego late June.Obiena then finished fourth at the Meeting de Paris on July 7 which served as his final competition before the Paris Games."I think just consistency overall. I missed one attempt. Sports is beautiful but also brutal. I understand that. [It's the] consistency I'm lacking. I felt like I needed a little bit more time, but it's the Olympics, it's not going to wait for anybody. I'm just here doing everything that I can."Mentored by the legendary coach Vitaly Petrov of Ukraine, Obiena said he did all he could and he's happy for his winning friends but it doesn't make it less painful for him."Even with the fourth place, I'd say I've done everything I can to be where I'm at and I'm proud of the effort of my team, myself, and everybody who made this possible. But it doesn't make it less painful," said Obiena,"I'm happy for everybody who got the medal, they deserve it. I'm happy for my friends. But it doesn't give me a little bit of shade of less pain."As expected, world no. 1 Armand 'Mondo' Duplantis of Sweden defended his title and did so by posting a new Olympic and world record of 6.25m clearance in his third attempt, shattering the 6.24m previous standard which he himself set.Sam Kendricks of the USA, the 2016 Rio Games bronze winner, claimed a silver medal this time with a 5.95m clearance.